Category: Classroom ideas
Behind every successful creator is a first story, a first line, a first drawing. James Foley’s passion for art started young, with a step-by-step drawing of Bart Simpson and some ‘public murals’ on and underneath the tables of his childhood home. These days, James writes and illustrates for a living, and regularly presents to schoolkids […]
Award-winning author and teacher Sally Murphy has begun a new Teacher Tuesday segment on her website. Each week she’ll match one of her books with the curriculum links for a particular year level, starting with Looking Up for Year 3 classrooms.
When we first met Mimi Helm she was a Curtin University student and one of a group of emerging filmmakers who had been tasked with making a book trailer for Fremantle Press as part of their coursework.
Need a last-minute Book Week activity? Why not get your students to create and use semaphore flags or morse code? Morse code and the semaphore signalling method was used to communicate important military information, home-front anxieties and, eventually, hopes for a more peaceful world. We’ve created some handy activity sheets for the book Lighthouse Girl by […]
Kids and parents can help create a rainbow collage as part of a new exhibition at the State Library of Western Australia’s Story Place Gallery this month.
Swimming on the Lawn by Yasmin Hamid follows the adventures of Farida, who lives with her family in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. Sudanese culture and customs are brought to life, from the ubiquitous tea service and hearty breakfasts to the commemoration of Muslim holidays and the rites of birth and death.
We have class sets of our free teaching activity; ‘Do you know your Aussie animals?’ available to order or download now. In the meantime, author Deb Fitzpatrick talks about her new novel, The Spectacular Spencer Gray, and why it features Australia’s most endangered mammal.
Find out how to get the latest free bookmarks and teaching activities from Fremantle Press.
A younger brother with a built-in cupcake oven? Who wouldn’t want that? James Foley is one of the authors on Russ the Story Bus, which kicks off the Sydney Writers’ Festival’s Children’s Festival of Moving Stories with a trip to schools in Western Sydney and, for the first time, the NSW regional centres of Bathurst, […]
Red Read’s life takes an alarming turn when his mother sells him to an infamous smuggler plying his trade off the north-west coast in the closing days of the 19th century. Author Norman Jorgensen provides a sneak preview.
Why not extend the fun of book week by ordering your class a free set of bookmarks, posters and activities?
Chris Nixon’s book trailer shows exactly what happens when you wake the panda! Pandamonia is available in all good bookstores and online now. Read the teaching notes or order a free set of bookmarks from events@fremantlepress.com.au.
Sally Tinker of S. Tinker Inc. is the world’s foremost inventor under the age of 12 and creator of Brobot: Just as a Brother Should Be (patent pending). Fremantle Press is offering five lucky schools the chance to win two special Brobot gift packs: one for the classroom and one for the person who designs […]
Just when famed youth reporter Pollo di Nozi thinks she’ll never find another news story, she stumbles upon not one but two very surprising secrets.
We all want more time for reading, so who wouldn’t want their very own ‘do not disturb’ sign for the bedroom door? Our free one is very special!
Representation matters, including in picture book illustrations. Perhaps especially in illustrations, because children are fluent in the language of art in a way that most adults are not. There is no aspect of an illustration that escapes the attention of a child, and this means that to create art for children is to speak to an audience more attuned to the nuances of representation than yourself. This is one of the reasons why the misrepresentation of Indigenous peoples in illustration – or the misrepresentation of other diverse peoples, for that matter – should never be dismissed as being ‘only a picture book’.
Peacock Visuals has created a book trailer for Can a skeleton have an x-ray? by Kyle Hughes-Odgers.
Need a last-minute Anzac Day activity? Why not get your students to create and use semaphore flags? The semaphore signalling method was used to communicate important military information, home-front anxieties and, eventually, hopes for a more peaceful world.
Drawing on fascinating archival material, and interweaving fact with fiction, in this video award-winning author Dianne Wolfer deftly recreates the story of Fay Howe, the little girl from Breaksea Island. In doing so she depicts the hardships of those left at home during WWI — waiting, wondering and hoping.
Illustrator Sean E. Avery takes us into his studio where he created the picture books All Monkeys Love Bananas and Harold and Grace.
Alice Nelson is a novelist who won the T.A.G. Hungerford Award and was named Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Australian Novelist in 2009. Here she talks about her latest book After This: Survivors of the Holocaust speak.
Dropping In by Geoff Havel is a novel for middle readers aged 10–14 with themes of friendship, bullying, living with disability, ADHD and cerebral palsy.
Harold and Grace by Sean E. Avery is a hilarious picture book for ages 3 to 8 with themes of friendship, bullying, metamorphosis and life cycles, plus wetland ecosystems.
From little things big things grow! To celebrate the launch of On a Small Island we’re offering free puppet activity sheets for schools, libraries and kindergartens. Just complete the form below. While stocks last.